Burning Leafs

Just as the season started well for the Toronto Maple Leafs, this year has turned into an absolute nightmare in the last month or so.  A 1-8-1 stretch at one point led to Ron Wilson being relieved of his duties as head coach and Randy Carlyle being brought in.  Just as the Leafs felt they were going in the right direction once again, beating the Ottawa Senators 3-1 on Saturday night, they laid a major egg last night, losing 8-0 to Boston.  No, that is not a typo.

I am sure you're wanting me to start a "Fire Burke!" spiel here, and even though there are compelling cases for this to happen (see picture for one reason), I will not do it.  Not because I think he should remain as general manager (far from it), but because this collapse is more than just the GM or even the coach.  It's Mike Komisarek practically being paid handsomely for doing next to nothing, John-Michael Liles not being the puck mover that he was in Colorado, Nazem Kadri not being the player the Leafs were hoping to get when he was drafted in the first round in 2009.  I can go on about the goaltending mess the Leafs have on their hands, and certainly, James Reimer hasn't been the same goaltender since getting concussed early in the season, and Jonas Gustavsson has been unable to stay healthy for a full season and has been inconsistent when he has been healthy.  Oh, there's a lot of blame to go around for Toronto, and unless things get fixed, guys like Phil Kessel (who himself has been in the middle of controversy, being the central figure in the trade with Boston (there's that team again!) for two first round picks, who would turn out to be Tyler Seguin (2010) and Dougie Hamilton (2011)) will be wasting their prime years on Maple Leaf teams without direction.